The First Mistake

Contrary to misguided and corrupt media beliefs, Barack Obama has not done the following:

He hasn’t changed his position on Iraq, he hasn’t changed his position on showing how important faith is to him and some in this country. He hasn’t altered his stringent thoughts on child molesters, and even hasn’t switch on his much blasphemous move away from public financing (seriously, he said that he was going to negotiate with the McCain campaign over it instead of fully committing himself to that always questionable program).

In short, Barack Obama hasn’t transformed into a flip-flopper. Of course the same can’t be said about John McCain, whose changed positions so much that he’s not just a flip-flopper, he is “The Spatula.”

But on Wednesday morning in the Senate, no deep research or double checking (for some, it was triple and quadruple times) could really present any claims to dismiss a nearly comprehensive no-no from the Illinois Senator. Correction, it was a total “Oh no” heard not only from progressive liberals, but even some of the most enthusiastic non-extreme lefty supporters of Obama.

The Democratic nominee had caved on the latest updates on FISA, and it was far from the great moments in his run up to November 4th. In fact, it was and currently is the worst moment for him so far in the campaign.

One blemish compared to the 99 million ones committed by his hapless opponent does not make him a phony. It doesn’t make him close to one.

In fact, to blame him solely for some of the Democrats capitulating to George Bush (surrendering to Mr. 28% as Daily Kos publisher Markos Moulistas called it) and a Republican brand that is so bad now it makes Cheerios look cool is beyond stupid. It is a verbal diatribe about as dumb as castigating Kobe Bryant for not leading the Lakers past the Celtics, or for “Get Smart” bombing at the theatres thanks in part to Steve Carell.

"While you’re happy purchasing that novel version of Apple/AT&T’s I-Phone, the company formerly known as Cingular- and the new version of AT&T- maybe tapping your next call. And getting away with it."

Real irrational abomination for this bill leads people to feel real irrational ways and go with real irrational beliefs. And sometimes those beliefs can cloud one’s judgment severely. Giving the blunt of the blame on Obama for this, when he just a part of this, is letting the blood rush to the head be a little too much.

But the other could be said about not the ones willingly to give Obama a pass on this. The ones that will be so color bind with him that they would pardon him even for a mistake such as this. There are plenty of reasons to be smitten with Obama. Just certainly not this one.

For those who don’t know, or particularly care, FISA means the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act. It’s been in existence since 1978, and it’s basically wiretapping from the government in order to collect information on foreign intelligence or agents of foreign intelligence. As time and technology has evolved dramatically over the last three decades, the bill wasn’t doing the same until the new millennium.
Before 9/11, Bush and Dick Cheney had already started their push for updating or fully implementing FISA as part of their plans. Their push for the advancement of this bill came before Osama Bin Laden name popped in the heads of most in the States.

Then the bill started to change, with the infamous Patriot Act and now an even more controversial amendment that received less attention then it should, last August’s “Protect America Act”. The reason why for the anger for the last change?

No warrant required to tap anyone, at any time.

Besides the Fourth Amendment abuse of it all, it was another deflating straw in the argument for the fight against terror. Or simply, it was another way to lower the President’s record disapproval rating to numbers lower than a vagabond’s salary.

Despite those numbers, it still didn’t matter enough to 21 Democrats (you have got to be kidding if you thought it mattered to some Republicans) to stand up to Bush and Cheney for one official time in this administration’s tenure to say “nay” to FISA’s new bill on Wednesday. The same could be said to the members in the House, but it even takes a broader light in the bigger house.

The new amendments are not only updates to the President’s (and both government and telecommunications) right to wiretap without that now irrelevant warrant, but also gives immunity to any possible malpractices the same telecommunications may have done by abusing their authority.

In short to the latter, while you’re happy purchasing that novel version of Apple/AT&T’s I-Phone, the company formerly known as Cingular- and the new version of AT&T- maybe tapping your next call. And they have been doing that the last few years, probably illegally, having a field day spying on people when they have no liberation to do so.

It didn’t matter though to the likes of John Rockefeller (arguably the biggest Democrat pushing it), or Mark Pryor, or even Jim Webb, who had to back up his brilliant push for the GI bill with a comprehensive horror like his position on this. For some reason that wasn’t giving any love to the Constitution, they voted for a bill to make them look weaker than that Caveman show on ABC. All this abdication now after fighting for warrants and questioning the rights of what Bush & company wanted since last summer.

And that includes Obama.

He’s part of the crowd, along with Russ Feingold and Chris Dodd, who said he would vote “no” to any bill including telecom immunity. He said he would continue to be apart of any filibuster against the bill even if all ended up going in vain. Because seriously, unless he was in the White House now instead of potentially next year, there was no way he (along with Feingold and Dodd) were going to stop it from being passed. If millions of cries from a majority in the civil liberties crowd and justified obstinate decisions against the request of this administration couldn’t turn around this bill, nothing would have.
But no excuse can exonerate Obama from this one, especially with his astute constitutional background.

There was no reversal on anything else from him on the topics before FISA’s end game, not in the past and not in the present before it came up. Indolence and manipulation tactics from CBS to CNN to push the claims of him being a flip-flopper show the dangerous water the mainstream media is treading. Obama made an example of them this week, saying “They haven’t been paying attention” in regards to those saying he’s soften his position on Iraq. And they are the same ones that weren’t listening or doing intense study on public financing or Second Amendment talk either.

In addition, they, with the exception of MSNBC’s Countdown, haven’t even given daylight to FISA in the leas bit. But it didn’t take long for them to make this into a story to push their Kerry-esque motive on Obama, especially with Hillary Clinton voting against the amendments after failing to do so in other terror related/war bills in the last few years. Only on this topic, there was no partial truth the media could create here (unless they failed to mention that McCain, despite criticizing Obama for his final position on the amendments, wasn’t even there to vote for the thing.)

He could have done it so McCain and the Republicans can’t label him the incongruous “He’s weak on terror like a typical Democrat” anecdote that is about as tired as Mike Myers looking into the camera in his movies. He could have done it to not make Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, through he voted against the bill, look foolish. Because whether it’s the power of some phone company lobbyists or something that they didn’t want exposed by someone or somewhere out there so damaging to their political future, they folded their Pair of Aces to Bush’s pair of threes.

Even more of a punch to the gut is the disturbing fact that Feingold has brought up: that at least many senators didn’t know the full details of what they were voting.

Yes, information was reported classified to some senators.

How an issue such as this, just because it isn’t part of most Americans’ Top 5, or even Top 10, issues they are facing today, can not even be looked conspicuously by the highest public services in the land says a lot about Congress, no matter what party you back. In fact, now matter if it was a bill about Stewie Griffin not being allowed to off his mother, any bill or amendments made to one looked by anybody in Congress should have some close examination to it.

Finally, Obama’s head-scratching reasoning for his final decision to say “yea” a quarter ‘til noon on Wednesday along with 20 other Democrats may have been another possible trap McCain couldn’t place him in, since not only was McCain absence from the vote; he has displayed his “Spatula” like tendencies on this issue as well, saying “yes” one day and “no” the following. It would be the latest example of world class hypocrisy from the Arizona Senator, and it would do him no good to push another failed plan of his.

But Obama doesn’t do himself any good here either. He trapped himself for the first time on this road to Election Day. And maybe so after, because if he is President and doesn’t pursue at least criminal charges on the telecommunications companies possible wrongdoings, then he would lose a little of that integrity that has transform him from the future of the Democratic Party into being the Present of it.

Forgotten in all the gnawing of teeth for the “Donkey Party” is the fact that a majority of Senators on the Democratic slide in the Senate voted against the amendments by a total of 27-21. And when Ted Kennedy came back to help them past the Medicare bill, it was a much needed does of good news on an otherwise damaging day.

One in which Obama made his first obvious wrong decision. Not even the overblown and misconstrued "bitter" comments were anything like this.

He wasn’t the only Democrat lacking sagacity here. Rockefeller (arguably the biggest Democrat pushing it), Pryor, Webb, and many others failed to plead for the 4th as well. Whatever their motives were, it was an embarrassing moment for the supporters of them to stomach.

Including those for the party’s nominee, making the first official mistake that you really can’t defend devoutly, no matter how hard you tried.